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Florida GameStop employee charged with killing would-be shoplifter
A Florida GameStop employee is facing a manslaughter charge after he reportedly shot and killed a shoplifter.
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Florida GameStop employee charged with killing would-be shoplifter
By Joe KelleyOctober 18, 2023 at 7:24 pm EDT:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/SSASKJ7AYJDMPBY2NGP33CNF7M.png)
A Florida GameStop employee is facing a manslaughter charge after he reportedly shot and killed a shoplifter.
Derrick Guerrero, 33, was taken into custody on Wednesday, one day after an unidentified man stole an unspecified piece of merchandise from the GameStop Guerrero works at, according to the Pembroke Pines Police Department.
As the man walked toward the door of the store, Guerrero pulled a gun from his waistband and fired one shot, striking the man in the torso, police say. The man died after being rushed to a nearby hospital.
Investigators say they decided to file the manslaughter charge after they determined the shoplifter didn’t have a weapon and hadn’t threatened Guerrero in any way.
Man shot and killed by GameStop assistant manager who saw him shoplifting Pokemon cards, police say
Derrick Guerrero, 33, was arrested Wednesday and charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of an alleged shoplifter at a Gamestop in Pembroke Pines, police say. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
By SHIRA MOOLTEN | smoolten@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel
PUBLISHED: October 18, 2023 at 9:42 a.m. | UPDATED: October 18, 2023 at 6:19 p.m.
PEMBROKE PINES — The assistant manager at a GameStop in Pembroke Pines shot a man while he was shoplifting Pokemon cards Tuesday night, according to police. The man is now dead.
The employee, Derrick Guerrero, 33, was arrested Wednesday and charged with manslaughter, Pembroke Pines Police said in a news release.
A little after 8 p.m. Tuesday, Guerrero saw the victim shoplifting in the 11000 block of Pines Boulevard, according to the release.
The man had grabbed several boxes of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Ultra-Premium Collection trading cards from behind the register, according to a police incident report. The boxes are valued at $120 each.
As the man ran towards the front door with the merchandise, Guerrero took a gun out of his waistband and shot him one time, striking him in the torso, the release said. The man never threatened Guerrero or displayed any weapon.
His name was redacted from the incident report due to Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment that shields victims’ identities from the public.
Surveillance video footage showed the man dropping the boxes of cards and fleeing the store, though the shooter was out of view. Moments later, a man walked towards the front door with a handgun.
A customer was also in the store during the shooting, but left before police arrived, the report said.
Police found the victim, unresponsive, in the front passenger seat of a Ford F150 outside the store. He was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, and died a few hours later.
On the floor, 10 feet from the exit, were five boxes of the Pokemon trading cards.
Guerrero is being held in Broward Main Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.
